Gloriously depicting the frozen polar regions as unexpectedly varied in appearance and teeming with life, Dutch photographer Jan Vermeer returned from the Arctic and Antarctica with portraits of airborne predators like the great gray owl in hunting flight, emperor penguin chicks in what appears to be an earnest conversation, and a gore-covered polar bear diligently tearing at a seal carcass to feed herself and her cubs. This is nature with no niceties but with stunning beauty and honesty, from cuddly looking seal pups to majestic blue icebergs, in photos up to 15 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches.